Devil Rays arrive; twinbill becomes night game
Yanks Seek Forfeit Because of Late D-Rays
This is perhaps the single most classless example of management arrogance in team sports I can recall. Never mind the fact that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were dealing with a hurricane at home. No, Yankees management seems to see this as a cheap opportunity to bag a “W” without having to actually do the work for it.
NEW YORK — The New York Yankees asked the commissioner’s office to award them a forfeit over Tampa Bay after the Devil Rays failed to arrive in time for the scheduled start Monday because of travel problems in Florida due to Hurricane Frances.
The doubleheader was changed to a single game and the start time, pushed back Sunday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., was reset for 7 p.m. The Devil Rays, who reported to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg at 8 a.m., left the ballpark at 1:05 p.m., departed Tampa International Airport at 2:40 p.m. and arrived at LaGuardia Airport at 5:25 p.m.
“The rule states that if your team is here and ready to play, and the other team isn’t here and not ready to play, there should be a forfeit, and we believe there should be a forfeit,” Yankees president Randy Levine said.
And we, the DUMB@$$ AWARD committee, believe that Mr. Levine has gone above and beyond the DUMB@$$ call of duty. In an awesome and inspiring display of narrow-minded poor sportsmanship, Randy Levine showed himself to be truly deserving of this “prestigious” and “coveted” award.
Does Levine not understand the nature of a hurricane and the difficulties associated with travelling under such adverse conditions? People are losing their homes, their businesses, and in some cases their lives. You’d think that Levine and the Yankees would display some compassion for the plight of their opponents from Florida.
I wonder if Levine would be so devoted to the rules of baseball if the roles were reversed? How we just drop him in Central Florida for a few days?
Smooth move, Randy. Of course, from a DUMB@$$, we’d expect nothing less.
